Developing apparatus for photographic materials

ABSTRACT

A drum is rotatable about a horizontal longitudinal axis and adapted to contain a developer liquid and photographic materials which are to be developed by contact with this liquid. A drive is provided for rotating the drum and for agitating the liquid therein, and a humidifying arrangement is provided for raising the level of humidity in the drum to a desired extent so as to prevent evaporation of the liquid in the drum.

United States Patent [191 Merz DEVELOPING APPARATUS FOR PHOTOGRAPHICMATERIALS Inventor: Werner Merz, Napoloenweg 3,

D-791 l Oberelchingen, Germany Filed: Jan. 22, 1973 Appl. No.: 325,893

Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 21, 1972 Germany 2202877 Int Cl.G03d 3/04 Field of Search 95/89 R, 93, 99

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,550,521 12/1970 Carrie ..95/93US. Cl .(ffflf .259/81 RT95/89 I?" [4 1 Apr. 16, 1974 3,599,554 8/l97lAelterman et a1. 95/89 R 3,698,307 l0/l972 Reichardt 95/93 PrimaryExaminer-Fred L. Braun Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael S. StrikerABSTRACT 7 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure I u. L 7 T is 17 f-qdiiZ T 37:73.21.

g l o .usonwmzz DEVELOPING APPARATUS FOR PI-IOTOGRAPIIIC MATERIALSBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to adeveloping apparatus for photographic material, particularly for colorfilms and the like.

Apparatus of the type here in question is already known and it is knownfrom the prior art to provide a drum having a normally horizontallongitudinal axis and to rotate it about this axis. The developer liquidand the photographic materials which are to be developed by contact withthe liquid, are accommodated in the drum and as the latter rotates,either continuously or alternately in opposite directions, the liquid isagitated and is thus brought into intimate contact with the photographicmaterial. In order to assure uniform and high-quality development of thephotographic material it is necessary that the material and the liquidbe maintained at a certain temperature during the developing operation.This, however, produces substantial difficulties because the developingliquid which wets the photographic material outside the bath of liquidin a thin film, rapidly evaporates and thus drastically cools thesurface of the film as a result of such evaporation. This means that toall intents and purposes it has heretofore been impossible to obtaincompletely uniformly developed film material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly an object of the presentinvention to provide an improved developing apparatus for photographicmaterials which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.

More particularly it is an object of the present invention to providesuch an improved developing apparatus in which the aforementioneddisadvantageous cooling effect resulting from evaporation of thedeveloping liquid, is avoided.

In keeping with these objects, and with others which will becomeapparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides in a developingapparatus for photographic materials which, briefly stated, comprises adrum having a normally horizontal longitudinal axis and adapted tocontain a developer liquid and photographic materials which are to bedeveloped by contact with such liquid. Agitating means is provided foragitating the liquid in the drum, and humidifying means is provided forraising the level of humidity in the drum above the liquid therein, to adesired extent. With this construction the level of humidity in the drumcan be raised to or near the saturation point, which makes it impossibleor almost impossible for developing liquid to evaporate and thus avoidsthe cooling of the photographic material resulting from suchevaporation.

It is advantageous if the developing apparatus comprises a chamber whichmay be so constructed as to prevent the entry of light and whichaccommodates the humidifying means, and the latter is advantageouslyarranged in the lower or bottom portion of this chamber.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims- Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof willbest be understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The single FIGURE is a diagrammaticside view of an apparatus according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing the drawing indetail it will be seen that in the FIGURE there is provided a chamber 10which is of generally box-shaped configuration and which may be soconstructed as to prevent the entry of light when the apparatus is inoperation. Accommodated in the chamber 10 is a receptacle, hereconfigurated as a drum 11 having a normally substantially horizontallongitudinal axis about which it is either rotatable continuously in onedirection, or about which it can be rotated in alternately oppositedirections. In known manner the photographic material to be developed isplaced on the inner circumferential surface of this drum 11 and thelatter is filled to a certain level, for instance the level identifiedwith reference numeral 12, with a developer liquid. Such liquid may beintroduced via an inlet funnel 13 which discharges into a tube 14communicating with the interior of the drum 11.

It is advantageous if, as illustrated in the drawing, the drum 11 ismounted on a rocking element 15 which is mounted for rocking movementabout a transverse axis 16 so that the drum ends can alternately beraised and lowered by raising and lowering of the rocking element 15.This will cause the liquid to flow back and forth from one end of thedrum to the other, and will facilitate the agitation of the liquid. Inaddition it is possible to provide a rocking frame 15a which causes theentire unit to perform a rocking motion. A drive is provided identifiedwith reference numeral 17 for not only rotating the drum 11 about itslongitudinal horizontal axis, either continuously in one direction oralternately in mutually opposite directions, but also for effecting therocking movement.

The unit 15 can be tilted up about the axis 16 so that the drum assumesa partly upright position, permitting the liquid in the drum to flow outthrough the opening provided in the right-hand end of the drum 11 and toflow into the chamber 10 which is provided at a low point with acollecting trough 18 in which the liquid collects and from where it isremoved via a pump 19 to the exterior as indicated by the arrow.

In accordance with the present invention, there is arranged, preferablyin the lower portion or bottom portion 10a of the chamber 10,humidifying means for increasing the humidity in the drum to a desiredextent. This humidifying means is, in the illustrated embodiment,essentially composed of a water tube 20 provided with a variety ofrelatively small outlet openings 21. One end, here the left-hand end ofthe tube 20, can be connected with a source of water, preferably waterunder pressure, which enters in the direction of the arrow f into thetube 20 and issues from the spray or outlet apertures 21. The tube 20advantageously extends entirely or substantially over the length of thedrum 11 and is inclined downwardly in direction towards the collectingtrough 18. The right-hand end of the tube 20, that is the end remotefrom that which serves as the entry for water, is identified withreference numeral 22 and is preferably closed so that the entire amountof water admitted into the tube 20 is forced to issue through theopenings 21.

In some circumstances a single tube 20 may be sufficient to achieve theintended purposes. However, in order to provide for a particularlyeffective increase in the level of humidity two or more tubes 20 can beprovided, and they may be arranged one above the other, in a commonplane parallel with one another, or in any other desired manner.

It is further possible and advantageous to provide a hygrometer 23 inthe chamber in order to measure the level of humidity therein, and thiscan be coupled with the water supply in known and thereforenonillustrated manner, so as to control the supply of water to the tubeor tubes in such a manner as to maintain automatically a selected levelof humidity, at or at least substantially near the saturation point.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofconstructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in adeveloping apparatus for photographic materials, it is not intended tobe limited to the details shown, since various modifications andstructural changes may be made without departing in any way from thespirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting features thatfrom the standpoint of prior art fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

- What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended 1. A developing apparatus for photographicmaterials, comprising a drum having a normally horizontal longitudinalaxis and adapted to contain a developer liquid and photographicmaterials which are to be developed by contact with such liquid;agitating means for agitating the liquid in said drum; and humidifyingmeans for raising the degree of humidity in said drum above the level ofliquid contained therein, to a desired extent, said humidifying meansextending axially of said drum and having a length which at leastsubstantially corresponds to the axial length of said drum.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said agitating meanscomprises rotating means for rotating said drum about said longitudinalaxis thereof.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1; further comprising a chambersurrounding said drum and having a bottom portion located beneath thesame; and wherein said humidifying means is arranged in said bottomportion.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said humidifying meanscomprises at least one water pipe provided with a plurality of wateroutlet openings and adapted to be connected with a source of water.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 4; further comprising a chambersurrounding said drum and said humidifying means and having a bottomportion provided with an outlet; and wherein said water pipe isdownwardly inclined in direction towards said outlet.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 4, said water pipe having one endadapted to be connected to said source,

and an other end remote from said one end; and

wherein said water pipe is closed at said other end.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 1; and further comprising controlmeans associated with said humidifying means and operative formaintaining the humidity in said drum at a predetermined level.

1. A developing apparatus for photographic materials, comprising a drumhaving a normally horizontal longitudinal axis and adapted to contain adeveloper liquid and photographic materials which are to be developed bycontact with such liquid; agitating means for agitating the liquid insaid drum; and humidifying means for raising the degree of humidity insaid drum above the level of liquid contained therein, to a desiredextent, said humidifying means extending axially of said drum and havinga length which at least substantially corresponds to the axial length ofsaid drum.
 2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said agitatingmeans comprises rotating means for rotating said drum about saidlongitudinal axis thereof.
 3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1;further comprising a chamber surrounding said drum and having a bottomportion located beneath the same; and wherein said humidifying means isarranged in said bottom portion.
 4. An apparatus as defined in claim 1,wherein said humidifying means comprises at least one water pipeprovided with a plurality of water outlet openings and adapted to beconnected with a source of water.
 5. An apparatus as defined in claim 4;further comprising a chamber surrounding said drum and said humidifyingmeans and having a bottom portion provided with an outlet; and whereinsaid water pipe is downwardly inclined in direction towards said outlet.6. An apparatus as defined in claim 4, said water pipe having one endadapted to be connected to said source, and an other end remote fromsaid one end; and wherein said water pipe is closed at said other end.7. An apparatus as defined in claim 1; and further comprising controlmeans associated with said humidifying means and operative formaintaining the humidity in said drum at a predetermined level.